Coin bank



D. H. ZELL COIN BANK oct. 19, 1.937.

Filed June l, 1935 Patented Oct. 19, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Claims.

This invention relates to coin banks and has for its primary object to provide a bank having a self-contained calendar, actuated upon the daily deposit of a coin, as an aid in the methodi- 5 calv accumulation of savings, for the payment of insurance premiums and for other purposes.

Another object of the invention is to provide a very simple construction and arrangement of the calendar mechanism and its actuating means upon a separate supporting plate, mounted within the bank body to occupy a minimum of space therein.

A further object is to provide actuating means for the calendar mechanism which eliminates the use of gears, ratchets or the like, While obtaining an accurately controlled movement of the day and month indicating disks.

It is also an important object of the invention to provide a Vcoin operated actuating member for the day indicating disk, means beneath the coin receiving slot of the bank for supporting and positioning the deposited coin relative to said member, and a manually operable member mounted on said coin supporting means, having a part projecting outwardly through said slot and operable to engage the coin with said actuating member.

With the above and other objects in View the invention consists in the improved coin bank and in the form, construction and relative arrangement of its several parts, as will hereinafter be more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and subsequently incorporated in the subjoined claims.

In the drawing, wherein I have illustrated one simple and practical embodiment of my invention and in which similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a front elevation, showing one form of coin bank provided with my present invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional View, taken substantially on the line 2--2 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section, similar to Fig.

1, showing the coin in operative engagement with the calendar disk actuating member.

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section, on an enlarged scale, taken substantially on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view, taken substantially on the line 5--5 of Fig. 2, the body of the bank being omitted.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the body of the bank may be of any desired ornamental '55 shape or form. As herein'shown, the front and back walls 5 and 6 respectively have their outer surfaces covered by a flexible sheet material l, such as leather, Celluloid or the like, which may be embossed or otherwise suitably ornamented. The opposite edge walls 8 and top wall 9 of the 5 bank are formed from a continuous sheet metal strip, suitably secured at its edges to the front and rear walls 5 and 6. 'I'he bottom of the bank is closed by a door II), pivotally mounted at one of its ends upon the bank walls, as at II. This 10 door carries suitable key actuated locking mechanism, generally indicated at I2, to coact with the keeper means I3 and lock the door in closed position, with the outer face thereof substantially flush with the lower edges of the walls 5, 6 and 8 l5 of the bank body.

The top wall 9 of the bank, adjacent to one side edge thereof, is provided with a longitudinally extending, depressed portion I4, having a coin receiving slot I 5. 20

Upon a separate supporting plate I6 the calendar mechanism and its actuating means are mounted. The outline form of this plate conforms to the walls 5 and 6 of the bank and at its lower end is formed with an angularly offset de- 25 pending flange I'I having spaced slots to receive bendable tongues I8, struck from the wall 5 and clinched upon said.Y iiange. At its upper end the plate I6 is'provided with a horizontal flange I 8 abutting at its free edge against the rear lon- 30 gitudinal edge oi the top wall 9 of the bank. This flange has a slot 20 therein to register with the coin receiving slot I5.

The plate I 6, above its center, is provided with a circular offset portion 2I, having a concentric 35 opening 22 to receive the rearwardly offset portion 24 of the day indicating disk 23 of the calendar. The disk is retained in rotatable connection with the supporting plate by means of the metal cap 25, secured to the rear face of the part 24 bythe tongues 26, struck from said cap plate and extending through apertures in the part 24 and clinched thereon. The outer edge portion of the cap 25 projects beyond the opening 22 and upon the rear face of the plate I6. The disk 23 and plate 25 are centrally provided with suitable, registering openings 21 and 28 respectively, to receive the end of a resetting key inserted through a grommet 29 fixed in the rear 50 wall of the bank.

The front surface of the disk 23 at its margin is marked with the numerals 1 to 30, and between the numerals 1 and 30 a single tooth 30 projects slightly from the periphery of the disk. In

i radial alignment with each of said numerals Ythe Y disk is provided with an op'eningr3l.

The month indicating Vdisk 32 is rotatably mounted below the disk 23, upon a secondV for- Wardly offset circular portion 33 of the plate i6, by means of a tubular rivet or grommet-34. Be-

' tween Vadjacent monthdesignations on the front 3l. onsaid memberhas a forwardly projecting terface of this Vdisk the edge thereof is provided with the notches or recesses 35. The edge faces of the disk between these notches are curved Von concave arcs, as at 3E, so that'they willV closely t against the convex periphery of the disk 23.

At the rear side Vof the plate I6, immediately beneath the ange i3, a` guide Yplate 3l is arranged in parallel relation therewith, and-attachedthereto in any preferred manner. One 'i end ofY this guide plate is relatively narrow,rarsr The wider portion of l saidk plate shown at 38. has a flange 39 at its lower edge, which abuts the rear face ofthe plate I3 and forms a stop and support' fori thecoinv inserted through the slot |5;11This flange also supports the manually operablejslide'lll, havingthe linger piece 4| proje'ctingfupwardlyv through the coin slot l5. A spring 42 inormally holds the slide in a retracted positionA 'with the ngerpiece in one end of said Y --'Upon the front side of the plate E6 the actuating member 33, vof resilient'sheet metal, is' pivoted ated; lThis` member hasV an arm 45 terminating inalug 56, projecting rearwardly through an' opening- 3S in the plate i3 and .beneath the free lower edge of the part 38 Vof the guide plate Adjacent tothe arm '1:35a second arm 41 Vof thediskz 23 in linegwith the 5 circularirow of openings 3lrrtherein. f

The part 38 of the guide plate B'I'is provided, adjacentVV to'its lower edge, with ,a forwardly punched part or .protuberance 53.".The distance between Ythis protuberance and theV adjacent Yend of the supporting flange 39' of the guide 31 is somewhat less than the diameter of the coin, and inthe normal position of the member-43 of the lugilt` isdisposed between said protuberance Vand the end of the coin supporting flange.

' From reference tofFig.'4 ofthe drawing it will be seen that when the supporting plate I6, with the mechanism above described, is mounted with'- in the bank'body, the day and month indicating disks 23 and 32. are positioned adjacent the'front .wall 5, in parallel relation therewith. Flanges i6 eXtendalong` opposite side edges of said sup-` porting plate andV contact closely with the edge walls 8.of 'thebank'bodyn and in conjunction Y with the tongues V|53 Vand the flange i9, serve to veryrigidly x said plate in position tothe vlloank body. .l

with respect An ornamental escutcheon d'isfsecured tothe Y front wall- 5 of the bank and has vertically spacedY sight openings through which the d ay andvmonth designations on the disks V23 Yand 32 respectively mayb'e`read. f Y Y `The operation oflmy invention may be readily understood from the above description. Upon the insertion of thel Vcoin Vthrough slot' l5 it is Y supported in a vertical position upon the flange left from the position shown in Fig. 2. The coin, Y Y

4Vindicated at C, is thus also moved between plate l5 andvguide Si soV that the edge ofthe coin bears upon thelugrli of the actuating member 33. Asthe movement ,of the coin continues'one side thereof contacts with and rides Yover the prothe end portion, 33 of the guide plate''l, which .insures continuous bearing contact of the coin on lugi. `Member 43 is thus pivotally moved toward the outer edgeof the calendar disk 23 until the lug 48 on arm 47 engages in one of the openings. 3|'in said disk, the diskV being held against anti-clockwise rotation by the spring 52.

i At 'thisftiniegthe coinpasses beyond the lug'll andfalls' intothe bank. Y' r From reference Ato Fig'. 2 of the` drawing it will be noted Vthat there is clearance between the periphery of thecoin and the top wall ofthe bank-case. stricted rolling movement'and the member 4| were quicklyV actuated; 'initially the coinV would roll" over the lug 46 without depressing the same Y .tuberance 53, against the yieldable resistance-of Y `Therefore 'ifthe coin had unrecient resistance islthereby Vprovided. to preventV the-free rollingmovement of the coin over the lug i3 in its initial engagement therewith. YThis frictional .resistanceI to the rolling movement Vof thecoin is suiiicientfto counteractthe tendencyV horizontal straight line movement of the coin.Y

Accordingly the same extent of downward movement of lugli, and of rotative movement of disk V23 is assured `in Yevery operation.

When pressure` on Ythe Ylugill is thus released spring 5| contracts iand Vreverses the pivotal movement of the actuating member 573, so that the luglS Von thearm 4l Vcoacts with the Vdisk 23 torotate thelatterone step, and expose the day numeral corresponding to theday of the month when the deposit Vis inade, `through the upper opening 55 in the escutcheon r5. The arm actsas a'brake-ag'ainst the rear face of the disk 23-andthe lug on said arm' engages in one tof"V the" openings 3| in said diskto positively check and limit-the movements'of the disk, so that vthe day indicating Vnumerals thereon will accurately register with thesight opening. The end of the leaf spring 52,'engaging in'another of the openings 3|, prevents retrograde rotary movement4v of the disk 23. f

Y When the disk 23 has been operated'in this mannerfuntil'the numeral 30 is exposed, 'upon the next. operation thereoffthe toth3il of Vsaid disk engages in one of the notches 35 of the disk 32 Vandfmoves the latterzone'step Vto exposethe lower Vsight:.opening A'575; A

From the above description it will be seen that the invention provides a very simple and compact construction and arrangement of the several parts, dispensing with the use of gears, ratchets and similar elements, while insuring positive and accurate operation of the mechanism. Direct coaction of the periphery of the disk 23 with the arcuate surfaces of the disk 32 effectually prevents rotation of the latter disk from its set position. The supporting plate I6 upon which the calendar mechanism is carried enables said mechanism to be properly positioned within the bank body with a minimum expenditure of time and labor.

I have herein shown a very desirable and practical embodiment of my invention, which has been found entirely satisfactory in practical use. It will, however, be understood that the essential features thereof may also be exemplified in numerous other alternative structural forms. Accordingly, I reserve the privilege of resorting to all such legitimate changes in the form, construction and relative arrangement of the several elements as may be fairly considered within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A coin bank having a slot in one marginal wall thereof for the insertion of coins, mechanism for registering the insertion of a coin, housed within the bank and having a coin operated actuating member, a manually operable element, and a common guideway for said element and the coin supporting the latter in a vertical position for rolling movement, said actuating member having an angularly disposed lug at one end of the guideway, said element being operable to engage and project the coin through the guideway into engagement with said lug, and one wall of the guideway having means yieldably coacting with the coin to hold the same in moving contact with said lug.

2. A coin bank having a slot in one marginal wall thereof for the insertion of coins, registering mechanism housed within the bank adjacent to one of its side walls, said mechanism including a registering disk, a pivoted actuating member for said disk positioned wholly at one side of a vertical plane which includes the axis of said disk, a spring holding said member in normal position relative to said disk, said member having spaced relatively fixed parts, one of said parts adapted to be engaged by a coin inserted through said slot to move said member from its normal position, the other of said parts adapted to coact with means on said disk to rotate the latter upon return movement of said member to normal position under the action of said spring, and a third part carried by said actuating member and coacting with the disk to limit such rotation of the disk in each actuation of said member.

3. A coin bank having a slot in one marginal wall thereof for the insertion of coins, a plate iixed Within the bank in spaced parallel relation to one of its side walls, a manually operable element mounted on one side of said plate and having an operating part projecting outwardly through said slot, a support on said side of the plate beneath said slot to support an inserted coin for rolling movement in position to be engaged by said manually operable element, a registering disk rotatably mounted at the opposite side of said plate, and a coin operated member movably mounted on the latter side of the plate, said member having a part extending between said plate and the registering disk and coacting with means on the latter to actuate said disk when said member is engaged and actuated by a rolling coin.

4. A coin bank having a slot in one marginal wall thereof for the insertion of coins, a plate fixed within the bank in spaced relation to one of its side walls, a support on one side of said plate beneath said slot to receive and support a coin in vertical position for rolling movement, a spring held manually operable element mounted on said support, a coin operated actuating member movably mounted on the opposite side of said plate and having an angularly disposed lug extending through an opening in the plate; into the path of rolling movement of the coin, a registering disk rotatably mounted at the latter side of said plate, and said actuating member having a resiliently yieldable part positioned between said plate and the registering disk and coacting with means on said disk to actuate the same when said element is operated to project the rolling coin beyond said support and into bearing contact with the lug of said actuating member.

5. A coin bank having a slot in one marginal Wall thereof for the insertion of coins, a plate xed within the bank in spaced relation to one of its side walls, a support on one side of said plate beneath said slot to receive and support a coin in vertical position for rolling movement, a spring held manually operable element mounted on said support, a coin operated actuating member movably mounted on the opposite side of said plate and having an angularly disposed lug extending through an opening in the plate into the path of rolling movement of the coin, a registering disk rotatably mounted at the latter side of said plate, and said actuating member having a resiliently yieldable part positioned between said plate and the registering disk and coacting with means on said disk to actuate the same when said element is operated to project the rolling coin beyond said support and into bearing contact with the lug of said actuating member, and said support having a resiliently yieldable part projecting from one end thereof and positioned above said lug adapted to resiliently bear against one side of the coin to retain the latter in rolling contact upon the lug.

DAVID H. ZELL. 

